Discovering Dinosaurs: in the American Museum of Natural History by M. Norell

Discovering Dinosaurs: in the American Museum of Natural History

AUTHOR:

Mark Norell

PRODUCT DETAILS:

Hardcover: 204 pages

Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (May 2, 1995)

ISBN: 0679433864

Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 9.8 x 10.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 2.85 pounds

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Book Description

Curators of the re-installation of the Hall of Dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History, the authors document the collection of dinosaur skeletons and recount the experiences of the paleontologists who have scoured remote lands in search of evidence of these animals. Contains 167 illustrations, charts and maps in color and b&w. National author media.

From the Publisher

What does the fossil record really tell us about the evolution and extinction of dinosaurs? And what do they disclose about our own place in the history of life? Drawing on their extensive experience in the field and in the laboratory, and on the incredible resources of the American Museum of Natural History--the world's premier collection of dinosaur fossils and information--the authors give us an authentic, fantasy-free understanding of these remarkable animals and their position in the great diversity of life.

In this updated and revised edition, the authors use photographs, original drawings, maps, charts, diagrams, and historical and contemporary narratives to answer all our questions, from the most basic to the most sophisticated. In words and pictures, the history of each fossil's discovery, excavation, acquisition, and reconstruction is woven together with the story of paleontology. The new edition includes the most recent finds coming out of China, Outer Mongolia, and Patagonia, of feathered dinosaurs and dinosaur embryos. DISCOVERING DINOSAURS is the story of one of the greatest of all scientific enterprises, an undertaking that, as the authors describe it, transports us simultaneously to the primeval past and to the frontiers of scientific investigation today.

Inside Flap Copy

Curators of the re-installation of the Hall of Dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History, the authors document the collection of dinosaur skeletons and recount the experiences of the paleontologists who have scoured remote lands in search of evidence of these animals. Contains 167 illustrations, charts and maps in color and b&w. National author media.

About the Author(s)

Mark Norell, co-curator of the Halls of Dinosaurs, was co-leader of the American Museum of Natural History's Gobi Desert expeditions of 1992, 1993, and 1994, in the course of which he discovered fossil remains of a new species of dinosaur as well as a unique dinosaur embryo, which both Discover and Time magazines ranked among the leading scientific developments of 1994. He is currently involved in expeditions to Lioaning, on the cutting edge of dinosaur exploration and discovery. He lives in New York City.

Eugene Gaffney is curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and co-curator of the Halls of Dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History. He is one of the world's leading specialists on fossil reptiles and lives near Princeton, New Jersey.

Lowell Dingus is director of the Museum's entire Fossils Halls renovation. He has served as head geologist on the Gobi Desert expeditions and lives in New York City.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS

Go to the AMNH without setting foot outside your home!, December 10, 1996

Even if you think you have no interest whatsoever in dinosaurs, you can still enjoy Discovering Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History. Reading this book rivals taking an actual trip to the museum's splendid dinosaur halls. Norell, Gaffney, and Dingus present the first half of the book in question-answer format and dedicate the second half to AMNH specimens and expeditions. Questions range from the simple (What are dinosaurs?) to the complicated (How did nonavian dinosaurs become extinct?) to the unusual (How did dinosaurs mate?). You can poke in a coprolite (fossilized dung) to find what dinosaurs ate or see how workers mount colossal skeletons. Along with answers and information, you get a bonus prize: the incredible illustrations of Erwin Christman. Few contemporary artists can compete with the beauty and accuracy of Christman's nearly century-old work. A drawing or photograph graces nearly every page of Discovering Dinosaurs. Photographs depict paleontology's past, specimens of dinosaurs and of animals that lived at the same time as them, trackways, and current assignments. The book includes the stunning results of the AMNH Gobi expeditions of 1991-1995: beautifully preserved skeletons of oviraptors. Whether you want to examine the texture of dinosaur skin or peer into a tyrannosaur's mouth, Discovering Dinosaurs gets two claws up--20 feet up!